BT Regulatory & Compliance
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B2BUK fibrecos gasping for air as Openreach discounts ‘take oxygen out of the system’
In-depth: Openreach’s wholesale discounting strategy has become the latest battleground in the UK fibre wars, with altnet leaders urging Ofcom to intervene more aggressively while the incumbent insists it is simply competing on price.
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Network & InfraOfcom wields TAR in move to block Openreach fibre discounts
For the first time, the regulator intends to direct Openreach to withdraw proposed new fibre customer pricing, citing an ‘unfair’ and ‘aggressive’ approach from the incumbent. Ofcom puts the Telecoms Access Review into action, altnets welcome the move, and Openreach accuses the regulator of protecting rivals’ “poor business models”. Final decision pending…
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Strategy & ChangeBT: UK’s regulatory ‘Wild West’ presents barrier to sovereignty investment
FutureNet World: Business CTO Colin Bannon makes rare call for greater regulation to remove sovereign platform investment barriers and warns that end-to-end technical sovereignty is unrealistic and misguided.
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Public AffairsUK gov walks barrier-busting tightrope in bid to ease MDU connectivity headaches
Government sets so-called Barrier Busting Task Force to work, aiming to remove blockers to Gigabit upgrades at multi-dwelling units and apartment blocks. Openreach welcomes the proposals, but Whitehall must avoid giving the incumbent any inadvertent advantage…
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Public AffairsUK telcos to face mass lawsuit over alleged overcharging
BT, Virgin Media O2, and VodafoneThree to fight legal challenge over alleged overcharging of customers, albeit with a reduced scope courtesy of the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s ruling on the case…
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Public Affairs‘Enormously aggressive’: nexfibre leads altnet complaints against Openreach copper-to-fibre discounting
Connected Britain 2025: As Openreach pulls levers to combat massive broadband losses, and drive fibre adoption alongside, altnet leaders have called out the discount pricing strategy as unsustainable. nexfibre execs have called it an exploitation of the incumbent’s significant market powers, CityFibre warns of structure advantage, plus views from other altnets, rivals…
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EventwatchIndustry maps next steps for UK’s One Touch Switch
Connected Britain 2025: TOTSCo to focus on two key areas over the next year to further improve and streamline OTS, with BT, Hyperoptic, and Grain Connect among those highlighting the system’s consequences and potential improvements…
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Public AffairsBT’s Kirkby pulls no punches in review of UK regulatory, fiscal policy
Connected Britain: Allison Kirkby lets loose on Downing Street policy, with greater fiscal certainty needed to fund much-needed infra investment and AI adoption. Regulatory policy comes in for inevitable criticism too, as the BT boss sets the scene for the Chancellor’s upcoming Budget and Ofcom’s pending Telecoms Access Review…
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Public AffairsOpenreach lobbies for regulatory flexibility as fibrecos take market share, struggle with debt
Openreach’s regulatory lead is twisting Ofcom’s arm to give it pricing freedom in regions where it faces two rivals. VM O2 and CityFibre contend that a firm hand is required to protect still fragile competition. While altnets are winning market share, their lenders are nervous…
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Public AffairsOfcom yields, slashes UK spectrum fees — MNOs demand more
£60m annual reduction sees regulator modify ALF regime and tease softening of spectrum trading regime, but fails to silence criticism that move does not go far enough. Operators lobbying for Treasury to reinvest remaining £270m windfall back into rural 5G…
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Analyst BriefingBTwatch Weekly: BT braced as network tech moves from hype to reality
Latest from BT as Harmeen Mehta joins BT partner Equinix; Group eyes network edge as the tech nears maturity; legal headaches continue as EE fights overcharging class action; UK fibre scene spotlighted as Openreach competition changes shape…
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Analyst BriefingBTwatch Weekly: overseas dealmaking, domestic lobbying
Latest from around BT as Orange and AT&T are reported to be in talks regarding an international asset optimisation deal; UK regulation in focus for Ofcom, Openreach, and its long tail of altnet competitors; 5G SA rolls on; and BT pairs with peers to fulfil PSTN obligations…
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Public AffairsBT beats landmark class action case, cleared of unfair pricing
Competition Appeal Tribunal dismisses first-of-its-kind collective class action against BT, having found it to be charging ‘excessive’, but not ‘unfair’, prices.
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Network & InfraOfcom plots spectrum fee overhaul after MNOs’ calls for change
UK regulator sets out proposal to cut £40m from mobile operators’ collective annual spectrum licence bill after BT’s call for change.
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Strategy & Change‘New options’ emerging for DT’s stake in BT — Höttges
Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges sees things “going into our favour” at BT as German operator’s ‘biggest mistake’ begins to turn around and new international shareholders target the operator.
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Analyst BriefingBTwatch Weekly: BT takes aim at competitors
Latest from BT and its ecosystem as the Group takes flak for advertising practices, puts more effort into its anti-Vodafone–Three merger campaign, and cools talk of Deutsche Telekom’s latest API play…
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InnovationBT tightens GenAI cost and security control with AWS
BT Group’s Digital unit teams with AWS to build GenAI Gateway internal platform that gives engineers a flexible and responsible way to scale use cases across the organisation.
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Analyst BriefingBTwatch Weekly: 5G SA heralds AI age, Openreach sets wish list for fibre future
Latest from BT and ecosystem, including: standalone 5G launches at last, coupled with new in-home Wi-Fi 7 offerings and AI services, bringing anticipation of convergence change and ARPU growth; Mexico’s Slim adds more BT shares to holding; Openreach lays out TAR desires (much to rivals’ chagrin)…
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Analyst BriefingBTwatch Weekly: Openreach simplifies, MAUD levels up, EE adds parental guidance
Latest from BT and its ecosystem, including: content delivery network level-up with Edgio trials; Openreach restructures for complex fibre builds; SWAN passes migration milestone; EE warns of smartphone risks for kids…
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Analyst BriefingBTwatch Weekly: less tech, more outcomes for BT’s consumer and procurement teams
Latest from BT and its ecosystem, including calls from Consumer’s Kevin Lee to ‘forget the jargon’ and Chief Procurement Officer Cyril Pourrat on the centrality of AI to the future of buying. Infrastructure sharing in focus at Openreach; network executives exit; and Rivus folds after BT takes business elsewhere…